With only about a hundred votes left to be counted, a sales tax measure to bring BART to the South Bay has now definitely passed, backers announced Friday. And with voters also approving a bond measure to connect California's major cities by high-speed rail, San Jose's sleepy Diridon Station is on track for a mind-boggling upgrade.

The tiny station, built in 1935, with its small snack shack, cramped '60s-era restrooms, church-like pews and just a couple of ticket takers, will be transformed into a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art stopping point. Nearly 500 trains could glide into this station each day from seven transit lines — BART, high-speed rail, VTA light rail, Caltrain, Amtrak and the Altamont and Capitol lines.

"It should be on every postcard of San Jose," said Kevin Connolly, a transit planner with the Valley Transportation Authority. "Grand Central has the Pan Am Building and Lexington Avenue, and San Jose needs to be thinking about that scale.''

On Friday, BART backers popped open champagne at the station, named for San Jose transit advocate Rod Diridon, to celebrate Measure B's come-from-behind victory at the polls. The one-eighth-of-a-cent sales tax measure now holds a 66.78 percent approval — and there are not enough ballots left to be counted for it to fall below the two-thirds majority needed to pass. Election officials must certify the results by Dec. 2.

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Local dignitaries weren't the only ones rejoicing. Transit rider Ian North imagines a day when he can catch BART to Oakland to see the Raiders and Warriors or catch the high-speed train to Los Angeles for his family's annual Thanksgiving reunion.

"It's finally going to bring us up to speed. We'll no longer be in the shadow of San Francisco,'' said North, 47. "I've waited a long time for it.''

He will have to wait at least another 10 years to see all those tracks coming together at 65 Cahill St., across from the HP Pavilion. Nobody can say how much it would cost to transform Diridon, but money from both the $10 billion high-speed rail bond and Measure B could help pay the bill.

"The only place that might rival San Jose could be Los Angeles' Union Station, the southern end of the high-speed line," said Gene Skoropowski, managing director of the Capitol Corridor line that runs from Sacramento to San Jose. "Clearly, the potential for San Jose to become the Grand Central of the West is there."

Transit planners are thinking of it as a glitzy, modern airport terminal, perhaps along the lines of San Francisco International, or the new look coming to Mineta San Jose International. They are envisioning high-end restaurants, large ticketing areas, escalators, bright lights and thousands of passengers bustling through from Los Angeles, Sacramento, Stockton, Monterey and throughout the Bay Area.

Steve Aponte, who lives in the recently built lofts across the tracks, envisions more congestion — but not necessarily the bad kind.

"A lot of people live here because ... they can come here on a train or on a bus, and now even more so," said Aponte, 25.

A planning study could be under way by April, looking at terminal improvements and parking issues. The lots at Diridon already fill up early each morning with cars, and finding hundreds of more parking spots will be critical. The VTA also plans on expanding bus service to Diridon, with a number of express routes feeding into the station.

The look will be different, much different.

"In order to be mentioned in the same breath as Grand Central, I think we have to develop iconic architecture that not just houses transportation but announces our city and region to everyone who visits as a great place with a global stature," Connolly said.

If the BART extension remains on track, it will run 133 trains to San Jose each day when the line opens in 2018. Caltrain hopes to run 120 trains through in 10 more years. There are 116 light-rail trains a day that now roll into Diridon. As many as 90 high-speed trains are planned. Add in ACE, Amtrak and Capitol Corridor trains on remaining lines, and there will be passengers hurrying from one train line to another throughout the station.

And that explains the champagne corks popping Friday in front of the old station — and a lot of busy days ahead for officials like Ben Tripousis, the transportation systems manager with San Jose's Department of Transportation.

"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity," he said, "to develop a transportation facility that is comparable to the best in the world."